Sharen
by iknowuknow
Summary: An early birthday fic for a good friend of mine. Shawn and Karen have known each other a long time - longer than many people ever knew.


**For a good friend of mine, who loves this pairing. This is for you, Ace! Written on my iPhone into Facebook, so hopefully it still reads okay.  
**

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Shawn knocked on the door to the Chief's office. "Chief?"

She hid a tissue box, then invited him in.

"How have you been Chief?" He asked.

"I'm sad, but it gets better every day."

She had just gotten out of a bitter divorce with her cheating husband. He decided he wanted nothing to do with her or Iris, and had just up and left one day.

Everyone had been busy with their own lives - Lassiter with Marlowe and their daughter, Juliet with her new husband called Rick, Gus with Rachel and Max, and even Buzz with his new twins.

Shawn, however, had seen the chief in need. It wasn't a very busy time of year for psych, so he had been making frequent trips to the station and recently to Karen's house to check on her.

In that time, she had seen a side of Shawn she always suspected was there, but never really witnessed much of. Iris had taken to him pretty immediately, and that just have him even more of an excuse to come around. He even called in a favor with Adam Hornstock to make sure she was represented in the divorce proceedings without her breaking the bank.

Truthfully, Shawn had always admired her. When he was young, he used to come to work with his father simply to see Karen. Of course, Karen Dunlap was a rookie fresh out of the academy then. She was partnered with Officer Hastings, so he was able to use the older man as an excuse to see her. Only a four year gap existed between the two, but she never really have Shawn the time of day back then. He was sixteen and still in high school, while she was twenty and focused on her job.

Or so Shawn thought. In all honestly, Karen enjoyed the attention. All of the other officers were at least five years her senior, and all were men. They didn't include her - though not necessarily on purpose - in very much as a result. Most of the time they spent not on the job was spent at local bars, and Karen was still too young to join them. She was lonely until Shawn began to show up. He was funny, charming, and cute. At first she just thought it was cute to have a kid with a crush on her, but it was more before she even realized it was happening.

She began to develop serious feelings for him just before she turned twenty one. He was seventeen by then, and going through a lot of turmoil. His parents had split, and he was greatly upset. He started to come eat dinner at her house and talk about what he was feeling. Soon enough, they were spending almost all of their free time together. Then one day, just before he turned eighteen, he came to say goodbye. He was going to live with his mom, and planned to finish out the school year from there. His mom's new house was half an hour from school, and forty-five minutes from the station. His mom could drop him at school, but refused to bring him to the station. Thus, he and Karen started to see less and less of each other. Before she knew it, he had taken off on some world journey.

She was surprised when ten years later, she found him in her station. They both knew he wasn't actually psychic, but the lingering attraction made it easy for her to overlook this detail. Of course, she had to give him a warning in case her officers were watching. She had a reputation to uphold, after all. Shawn had come back to see her, realizing he made a mistake in ever leaving her. She was married now, thOugh, with a baby on the way - the very definition of unavailable. He couldn't help but continue taking cases, though, all the same

Then Juliet O'Hara had come into their lives, a young and bubbly little thing, and he could feel that attraction again - albeit not as strongly as he had for Karen. Over the years, he even started to feel he loved her. He realized, though, after two years with her that he had only ever been trying to replace Karen. He let Juliet go, as he knew he couldn't be what she needed. By a year later, she was married. Meanwhile, Karen was going through a hard time. Though he doubted she still felt anything for him - if she had ever felt anything at all- he couldn't help but help his first and only real love wherever he could.

Iris was nine, so she was old enough to realize what was going on with her parents. Her dad hadn't been around in years by then. Everyone knew they were falling apart long before they themselves did. When all came out, Richard had been cheating on her for almost the entire time they were together.

Shawn stepped in wherever he could, even going so far as to get a loan for a car so he could pick Iris up from school.

And now, Karen was finally free. She laughed as she realized this fact, then walked over and kissed Shawn right on the lips. He looked at her with surprise, then pulled her back in.

"Shawn Spencer," she said between kisses, "thank you for coming back. I couldn't have done this without you."

He smiled his signature grin. "I've been in love with you since I was 16, how could I resist?"

She smiled, "Oh, Shawn, I love you too!"

Fin

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**PS: "Suck it Karlton" ;)**


End file.
